NWP 36. Talk like a pirate

19-Sept-24 Portsmouth, New Hampshire

Massive fog bank a few hundreds yards out to sea as I open the curtains and test the air on balcony overlooking the harbour. Another dismal view from a hotel room. Ahem.

Spontaneous booking of a hotel for tonight whilst still lazing in bed. The half hour before physically getting out of bed. Awake. But not. All done on mobile phone app and a couple of clicks here and there. Isn’t technology wonderful. When it works.

Pass through more nice looking towns that perhaps deserve more investigation. Perhaps another time. One in particular is Wiscasset. Long line of people queue at 1100hrs for Red’s Eats to open. Famous for its lobster rolls.

Highway 1 all the way to Portland. And something I’ve not really seen since Vancouver. Homeless camping on the streets.

Portland might be a nice place to visit. Where it not for the thousands of cruise ship tourists dawdling. Two large cruise liners in port. Whole area heaving.

And as it’s the final day in Maine…lobster for lunch. Rather nice too. Four days on the trot of lobster. All very decadent isn’t it, dear reader.

Portland is named after the Isle of Portland in Dorset. And most of the port area buildings are now brick. Rather than timber seen thus far elsewhere.

Deciding there’s not much interest in the port area move on up to the Portland Observatory. Built in 1807 as a signal tower. Not a lighthouse. At 86ft high on the highest point in the area, Lemuel Moody used it to signal between ships and the port to alert workers which ships were arriving and thus improve the flow of goods around the wharves. Early day logistics computer.

Entrance fee is $10.

But.

It’s ‘Talk like a pirate’ day.

And.

If you talk like a pirate. You get a $2 discount.

So.

Tell my best pirate joke instead.

Do you know why pirates are called pirates?

Because they aaaarrrrgggghhhh…hahaha

And that, dear reader, warranted a $2 discount.

In response, receptionists asks how do you make a pirate angry?

Take the ‘p’ away.

What’s that, dear reader….groan is it??!?!

Cracking views from the top.

Only when I drive down Congress Street do I realise there’s a lot more to Portland than the harbour area. Quite a lively town centre. But glad I’m not staying here overnight.

I’ve chosen well, dear reader. And instead opted for a hotel in Portsmouth New Hampshire. Called The Hotel Portsmouth (www.larkhotels.com/hotels/the-hotel-portsmouth). Built in 1881 as a home but now converted to a boutique hotel. An example of Queen Anne Victorian architecture and one of the town’s grand old mansions. Rather nice.

Gives an indication of the sort of town Portsmouth is. It’s all rather nice, dear reader. Very upmarket. Even a Fat Face shop. Could almost be twinned with Salcombe.

Town was named ‘Portsmouth’ in honour of the colony’s founder, John Mason, who had been captain of the English port of Portsmouth, Hampshire, after which New Hampshire is named.

The stuff you learn on this blog.